FERMENTATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY

Food can give you insight into cultural and culinary traditions from around the world. Every part of the world has had a fermented food to be proud of. From beverages and breads to vegetables and fruits to meats and milk, there is often a whole culture and ritual behind these fascinating fermentations. This section pulls back a historical veil and reveals some rhymes and reasons behind this unique food process.

Mesoamerica: Calling all chocolate lovers!

Fermentation is essential to making delicious and tasty chocolate. The history of chocolate began with the Mayan civilization. The cacao tree grows in the tropics and produces a long fruit pod that, when ripe, is yellowish in color and contains anywhere from 20 to 30 cacao beans, or seeds, surrounded by a delicious white, fruity pulp. The seeds are left inside the white pulp to ferment and begin changing the chemical compound and releasing the flavor of chocolate that you know and love into the beans. These seeds are what is harvested and processed to make chocolate. Some cultures used the fruit pulp alone to make a fermented, slightly alcoholic drink consumed by Aztec warriors and aristocrats. Although some chocolate is made using unfermented cacao beans, the most flavorful and least bitter chocolate is born from fermentation. Cacao beans were so valuable in Mayan civilization that they were even used as a form of barter and currency!

Africa: Turning toxins into edible tubers

The cassava root is consumed in many parts of the world but has a strong presence in Africa. It is very rich in starch, a great calorie filler, and a relatively cheap market item. This staple food is abundant locally and cooked in many different ways. Deep-fried, steamed, boiled, or fermented, cassava can be sweet or savory. It needs to be fermented or cooked because it contains an amount of cyanide that’s unpalatable and toxic to human consumption. Gari is the name for the common fermented cereal made from cassava, which could be compared to North American oatmeal, only fermented.

Asia: Thirst-quenching and candied culture

Kombucha is one of the strangest looking fermentations, as it is done using a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts) and appears rubbery in nature when growing. When placed in the correct environment, the combination of a SCOBY with tea and sugar creates an ancient health drink, kombucha, a fermented tea that is said to have originated in Central Asia. When drunk in moderation, kombucha has a wide range of health benefits. In some cases, the SCOBY alone is even candied by adding lots of sugar. Today, kombucha is becoming widely recognized among health food shops and within new-age environments. (See the nearby sidebar, as well as Chapter 14, for more on kombucha.)

Eastern Europe and Russia: Bubbly fruit kvass

Kvass is the Eastern European version of Asian kombucha. It’s a fermented beverage that’s most commonly made from rye, though other yeasts and fruits can be used. It has a low alcohol percentage and has been a common drink in Eastern Europe, and especially Russia, for centuries. In many cases throughout their patriotic history, people have chosen kvass over Coca-Cola! (See Chapter 14 for a kvass recipe.)

Japan: The sensational soybean

The soybean has become a widely cultivated and commonly distributed fermented food product. Tofu, tempeh, miso, and soy sauce are among the most recognized fermented soy goods, which originated in East Asia. The soybean itself has been cultivated around the globe and is a major industrialized food that serves populations worldwide. Although many people have problems with soy allergies, in moderation the fermented soybean (covered in Chapter 9) can actually enhance digestibility, reduce gas and bloating, and add beneficial flora to a person’s diet.

North Africa and Morocco: When life gives you lemons

Morocco tells a different story of the lemon. Lemons may be the last thing you thought of putting into your mouth whole, but with the magic of fermentation, you can eat them rind and all. When lemons are quartered, salted, and stuffed into jars left to ferment, they transform into a zesty treat. You can leave them in saltwater brine for years (see a recipe for preserved lemons in Chapter 6) and then use them in stews and sauces or to add a zesty kick to any recipe.

Alleviating digestive discomfort

The exciting thing about being a culinary nutritionist is that I (Marni) get to inspire people and help them improve their health. Every client presents a different challenge, and we work together to find unique solutions to suit that individual’s body and lifestyle needs.

Many of my clients come to me with digestive issues, and one client in particular had been suffering from digestive discomfort for years. She had a list of common symptoms: bloating, gas, and irritability. What was happening to her gut? I suggested she be daring and try something new. I suggested she try making her own kombucha or at least buy some to include in her diet every day.

The results were incredible! After sipping just a half cup every day with lunch for a week, her bloating subsided, her energy increased, and she felt significantly better. As you can see, just a small amount of fermented foods can have a profound effect on the body!

Written by Marni Wasserman & Amy Jeanroy in "Fermenting for Dummies", John Wiley & Sons, USA, excerpts chapter one. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.